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Sadly Over-hyped

Fantastic!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Dark, and to the point with little fat and a tremendous second person narration, this lean story never lets up and showcases some lost locations and streetscapes. not a lot to it, but what's there is great stuff.

Frankie Bono is a quiet and experienced assassin from Cleveland. He arrives in New York to do a job around Christmas time. He needs to kill a certain Traiano. But Bono gets more and more troubled by an inner voice. That voice makes him depressed.I thoroughly enjoyed the humanistic view on criminal, which wasn't really common in 1961. Today everything is done to let gangsters look like friendly, charming guys. Consider the incredible humane mercenaries of In Bruges, or the murderous couple in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It all started with remorseful killers like Frankie Bono.Especially two things I found of interest: the performance of guest star 'Big Ralph', the rat lover, and the Robert De Niro-like acting by Allen Baron. Baron's expressions, his eruptions, and his cool way of walking are so De Niro. But that's of course impossible. When Blast of Silence was released De Niro was eighteen. So the question is: how much of Baron is in De Niro? Blast of Silence was a real achievement, considering Baron was only twenty-six when he made this movie. The film was barely successful and Baron became director of TV shows like Love Boat and Charlie's Angels. Everyone, of course, needs money. Nevertheless, this waste of talent is a shame, because this movie should've been the forebode of a great directors career.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about hard-core pornography that he could not define it, but he knew it when he saw it. I feel the same way about film noir--I cannot define it, but I know it when I see it. And, in my estimation, this movie is quintessential noir. It is the story of a self-described loner, Frank Bono, who has been hired to kill a small-time mob operative in New York City. The filming, in black and white, is in a style that perfectly matches the seedy story being told. The movie has the look of a low budget effort, which indeed it is, and this creates an ideal atmosphere for the downbeat tale that is being told. It would be hard to fake the authenticity conferred by the low production values and the use of relatively unknown actors. The filming effectively uses contrast and shadows, a hallmark of film noir. There are no self-consciously arty shots. Much of the movie is filmed against a backdrop of New York locations. The New York settings play such an import role in establishing time and place that there is an extra of the DVD presenting details on the locations with a lot of before (1960) and after (1996 and 2006) shots. The unusual second person narrative, delivered in a suitably gravely voice, allows for getting to know Frank at a depth uncommon for this type of movie. We see how Frank drifted into his profession, how he had yearnings (or fantasies) about how he could have turned out differently, such as an architect or engineer. He sees a bridge and says to himself that he could have designed that. Frank prides himself on being a loner, a quality that he feels is essential to his job; he makes comments to himself like, "If you want a woman, buy one. In the dark, so she won't remember your face." However, during the course of the movie he is challenged to examine his isolated lifestyle.The sharp, cynical dialog raises this movie several cuts above a typical B movie. The opening scene gives you an immediate insight into how Frank views the world and alerts you to memorable dialog that is to come: "Remembering, out of the black silence you were born in pain. ... You were born with hate and anger built in. Took a slap on the backside to blast out the scream, and then you knew you were alive. Later you learned to hold back the scream and let out the hate and anger another way."The jazz score is effective.This is worth viewing and is not just for lovers of film noir.

Blast of Silence is a bargain bin noir with a lot of heart. It's sloppy in spots and paced poorly at times but writer, director, actor Alan Baron establishes a dark sinister atmosphere with effective imagery and an impressive stoic performance as Cleveland hit man Frankie Bono.Bono has come to New York to perform a contract killing on a mobster. It shouldn't be any different from any other whack but matters both professional and of the heart complicate matters. Things get ugly with an ex-girlfriend and he's double crossed by a gun runner who keeps rats for pets. Things only get bleaker for Bono whose life and outlook on it (narrated in gravelly detail by Lionel Stander) seems to be one of self fulfilling prophecy. Blast's uncompromising grim viewpoint, amoral take and style evoke comparison to Sam Fuller and the French new wave of the times (Breathless before, Shoot the Piano Player after). Substitute Stander's thick pulp with a French narrator and you have a Jean Pierre Melville and all the praise to go along with it. In its own uneven way Blast earns it. It may not be a classic but it is interesting to look at and imaginatively strung together by auteur Baron who does an admirable job of wearing many hats at once.